Drunkle DanG’Day! So here we are again, doing another Bourbon (see Maker’s Mark)! Funnily enough, both of the Bourbons we have done this week are owned by the same crew (Suntory Holdings, by way of Beam Inc), and man, the difference is palpable! This Semi Premium Bourbon By Jim Beam has gone through some changes in the last couple years, having been aged for 8 yrs until 2009 when they got impatient and decided 6 years was long enough. All Triple Black is matured in brand spanking new Charred American Oak BarrelsNow, Jim Beam has enough history, that we could be here all night yacking on about them, but I will give you some quick, hard and fast facts...Beam has been in production since 1795,There have been 7 generations of the Beam/Noe family that have run things,(Currently Fred Noe),Originally called Old Jake Beam, all Beam products use water from a Limestone Shelf at the back of the original Property. Jim Beam has been using the same batch of Yeast since the end of Prohibition (That’s 81 Years folks!) and (now this is some clever thinking) uses a portion of the previous mash in the new batch to get consistency through all batches produced.Now, while this Bourbon is getting up there in price and … prestige (I Suppose?) and has a heritage to go from – originally being called Bonded Barrel Bourbon, that just doesn’t seem to translate through to the glass. While a little dark for a bourbon, and without the sickly sweet smell you can sometimes get, the extra 4 years maturation doesn’t eliminate that distinct Jim Beam bite, harsh without any of the bourbon sweet. And you will never be mistake it for anything but a Jim Beam product. You will get a hell of a burn, and it’s not one that you will ever see me drinking on the rocks, or straight for that matter. But in saying that, it does go fantastic in mixes and cocktails, and I wouldn’t say no if offered, or if it was on special. All in all, a bit disappointing, but only because I set my bar a little high I suppose!